The Real Deal Miami

Senate gaming chair to introduce casino bill

The chair of Florida’s Senate Committee on Gaming plans to propose a bill next week to help bring glitzy casinos and gambling to the state.

Garrett Richter’s bill, which the committee is set to vote on Feb. 17, would create a gambling commission. The Senate had called for a gambling study to device a dozen possible scenarios in which destination casinos would be built.

The state House of Representatives, however, announced last week that gambling did not make the year’s list of legislative priorities. A similar Senate bill from 2012 failed to make it to the House for a vote.

“It looks like we’re going to have a long discussion, and that’s good,” Sen. Maria Sachs of Delray Beach told the Sun-Sentinel. [Sun-Sentinel] — Mark Maurer